MINDLESS EATING

Most of us gain weight slowly over the years and it does not take a major diet redo to lose weight. Brian Wansink, author of MINDLESS EATING, says that if we can reduce what we eat by 20%, our brain will not notice it. He calls this the Mindless Margin. Other ideas he offers are:
Pre-plate all food that you eat, even dessert. You eat by volume and if your brain sees the food up front you will be satisfied and eat less.
Use smaller serving dishes and plates. The smaller the serving dish, the less you will eat. The smaller the plate the more satisfied you will be. Plate sizes have increased by 50%.
Eliminate impulse eating by making over-eating a hassle. Serve your plates and put the leftovers away so you will not be tempted to eat extra food. Put tempting foods out of sight. If cookies are sitting on a platter in your kitchen you will snatch one often. Snack only on a plate in the kitchen.
Practice distraction free eating. Distract yourself before you begin to snack but once you have begun to snack, do not distract yourself. Have you ever eaten a bag of chips while watching television and not even tasted them or realized you ate the whole bag. Serve yourself a ration upfront if you must eat while doing something else.
Make comfort foods more comforting. Eat comfort foods in smaller amounts and eat what you love. Try and rewire your comfort foods (cookies, candy, chips and cake) by making new favorites. EG. Try frozen yogurt with half fruit, fill up on fruits and veggies and save your comfort food for last when you are full and will eat less.
Use the half plate rule with your family and serve snacks in pre-done amounts and put the rest of the snack away.
Be careful of the portion distortion of fast food. Supersizing is not a bargain for your body.
Specific changes he encourages everyone to make are:
Plan 100 to 200 calorie changes in your daily eating that will allow you to not be deprived.
Develop food trade-offs. If I exercise I can eat a small dessert.
Develop food policies. If I do not eat at my desk all week, I will allow myself a muffin on Saturday.
Choose three ways to save 100 calories per day. This would allow you to lose 30 pounds this year without a major diet overhaul.